We need a better sense of justice, and shame

That person is gone today, driven to the edge by what a decent society would only call bullying. I get wrong. But I also get proportionality. And if you don’t get both, you don’t deserve to have the power of the United States government behind you.
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Fifty years in jail, charges our government. Somehow, we need to get beyond the “I’m right so I’m right to nuke you” ethics that dominates our time. That begins with one word: Shame.
One word, and endless tears.
Lawrence Lessig,Prosecutor as Bully

Like many people, I’m filled with a sense of sadness and outrage in response to the news of Aaron Swartz’ suicide. Sadness for a man without hope for the future and outrage at a system who pushed him so recklessly to that point. 35-50 years in jail for a crime that could easily be argued, in the context of his life, was for the greater good and not personal gain? I understand this argument, blindly applied, can be a dangerous one. Not here though. Not now.